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AUTHOR: 


AGER,  JOHN  CURTIS 


TITLE: 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBOR 

ANISM? 

PLA  CE : 

PHILADELPH 

DA  TE : 


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PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 

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REPRINTED  FROM  FRANK  LESLIE'S  SUNDAY   MAOAZINE- 


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PHILADELPHIA: 
AMERICAN  NEW  CHURCH  TRACT  AND  PUBLICATION  SOCIETt, 

Twenty-Second  and  Chkotnut  Strkets. 

HIW  CHURCH  BOARD  OP  PDBLICiTION,  Ko.  20  COOPER  DNIOH,  SBV  TOffl^ 

BOSTOH:  MiSSiCHDSBTTS  NEW  CHURCH  UNIOH,  169  TRSMOHT  8TRKT. 

Priuted  bj  J.  B.  Lippincoti  Compamt,  Philadelphia. 


I 


PUBLISHED   BY 

The  American  New  ClinrcnracUiKl  PDWication  Society. 

DOCTRINES   OP   THE    NEW    CHVRCH< 


NO. 

I. 

2. 

3- 

5- 
6. 

I: 

9- 


NO. 
I. 

a. 

3- 
4. 
5. 
6. 

I: 


WHAT  THEY  THACH,   AND   WHAT  THEY  DO  NOT  TBACH 

By  Rev.  Chauncey  Giles. 

T^f ^^  ^  ^pint:  What  he  is,  and  what  he  is  not. 

1  he  Divinity  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures:   What  it  is   what  it  is  not 

The  Death  of  the  Material  Body  Essential  to  HumarHappfness 

Spiritual  Death:  Its  Nature.  Origin,  Delights,  and  Tomiems 

1  he  Resurrection  of  the  Soul  from  Spiritual  Death  ^°""^""- 

1  he  Resurrection  of  Man  from  the  Material  Body 

Heavenly  Happiness:  Its  Principles  and  Means  oY Attainment 

Heaven  a  Society  of  Regenerated  Men  and  Women 

By  Rev.  Chauncey  Giles. 
The  Origin  and  Nature  of  Truth. 
The  Origin  and  Nature  of  Love 
Truth  the  Light  of  Heaven. 
The  Nature  and  Office  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
1  he  Divine  Humanity  of  Jehovah  the  Central  Truth  of  Christianitv 

tIusUu  th?L"rr'  '^'  ^°'^  ^'^  ^^°""^"^  ^°^^  °f  RcdempS'^* 
The  Oil  of  Joy. 
B 


9.  Stumbling  Blocks. 

^^         »iisce:i,i,abjbous  discourshs. 

1.  Salvation  Possible  to  all  Men,  by  Rev.  A.  F.  Frost. 

"  "^  Chfur/^GUes"'    ^""^'°"^  °'  Ecclesiastical  Government,  by  Rev 

^*  S/Hf"^-"i"  ^^'^^''   Probation  and  Judgment,  by  Rev  Oliver  Dver 

4.  WhatisSwedenborgianism?  by  Rev.  J   (>  ^'^^^  ^^^^  ^^^ver  Dyer. 

5.  Manna,  by  Rev.  Abiel  Silver  '  ^    ' 

;;ge^rd^R:^^ 

"•  '  Ch/u;^c';r(SL^'    ^'^  "^''^  ^^  '''  ^°^^'^  ProviJenr^a?^;%  Rev 
The  Book  of  Li/e,  by  Rev.  Chauncey  Giles. 

Rev.' L   R  MerLr.  ^^^"^"^^"^^  Explained  and  its  Dangers  Shown,  by 
Man's  Ability  the  Measure  of  his  Obligation,  by  Rev.  Chauncey  Giles. 

ga]^trthe1,'um>>^l"S'^'  '^^  ^"^^  °^-  '^^^"^  '^^^^  '^  *^°  ""^  ^^^h,  without  re- 
R  man  add  ro  ceL/S''^''  '  ^^  ^''P'^?'  ^5  «nts ;  100  copies,  $1.25.  If  ordered 
Rn^m  •'  .  cents  for  every  50  copies.     For  sale  at  the  "  New  Church  Book- 

NerChurcrBoarH'nf'?"Sf'"^  Twenty^ccond  Streets,  Philadelphia;  oSy 
settTNerChurch  TJnLr     iL'T°"'  ^°  ?°°P^r  Union.  New  York;   Massachu^ 

wifhtonbL?n'''''""V*l"'^'^^  '°  Societies.  Associations,  and  individuals  who 


xo 
II 

12 
13 


i 


^ 


^ 


> 


V 


4    ^ 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORGIANISM?* 


"  Swedenborgianism"   is  the  popular  name  for  that 
system  of  religious  doctrine  and  philosophy  which  is  set 
forth  in  the  theological  writings  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg. 
The  designation,  however,  has  always  been  disowned  by 
those  who  accept  that  form  of  faith,  for  this  reason,  among 
others,  that  they  are  unwilling  to  tolerate  even  a  possible 
implication  that  the  faith  they  hold  is  the  product  of  any 
human  mind.     Swedenborg  insists,  in  the  strongest  terms, 
that  no  credit  is  due  to  him  for  the  truth  which  his  writ- 
ings contain  ;  that  his  mission  was  simply  to  write  out  and 
publish,  through  the  press,  what  was  given  him  by  the 
Lord;  and  those  who  adopt  his  teachings  feel  bound  to 
accept  this  claim  with  the  rest,  and  to  give  as  little  prom- 
inence as  possible  to  the  man  Swedenborg.     They  contend 
that  the  system  of  faith  they  accept  is  no  "  ism,"  no  man*8 
version  of  Christianity,  but  the  true  Christian  doctrine,  the 
actual  contents  of  Holy  Scripture.     And  this  conviction 
rests  on  no  human  or  traditional  authority,  but  upon  the 
simple  fact  that  they  see  for  themselves  in  the  Scriptures 
the  things  which  they  believe. 

Swedenborg's  theological  writings  are  less  voluminous 
than  is  generally  supposed.     The  English  translation  of 


♦  Reprinted  from  Frank  Leslie**  Sunday  Magazine,  by  permission 
of  Mrs.  Frank  Leslie.  In  this  reprint  a  few  of  the  paragraphs  have 
been  somewhat  extended. 


I 


A 


-iift'i 


4  WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORGIANISMi 

those  published  by  himself  is  contained  in  nineteen  ordi- 
nary octavo  volumes,  to  which  may  be  added  a  posthumous 
work  on  the  Apocalypse,  in  six  volumes,  and  a  few  brief 
treatises,  which,  combined,  would  make  no  more  than  a 
small  volume.     These  are  all  which  Swedenborg  wrote  for 
publication.     Their  contents  may  be  classified  under  four 
heads  :   (1)  The  exposition  of  the  interior  meaning  of  the 
Scriptures ;  (2)  The  analysis  and  discussion  of  doctrine ; 
(3)  The  discussion  of  the  philosophical  principles  on  which 
the  system  rests ;  and  (4)  A  record  of  the  things  seen  and 
heard  by  him  in  the  spiritual  world.     And  it  is  well  to 
note,  so  contrary  is  it  to  general  opinion,  that  the  third 
and  fourth  subjects  occupy  only  a  small  portion  of  the 
whole.      Of  the    twenty-six   volumes   above    mentioned, 
eighteen  are  expository,  explaining,  consecutively,  Genesis, 
Exodus,  and  the  Book  of  Revelation,  and  incidentally  the 
greater  portion  of  the  rest  of  Scripture.     Of  the  remain- 
ing eight  volumes,  one  is  a  treatise  on  the  nature  of  the 
spiritual  world  and  its  relation  to  the  physical  world  ;  an- 
other is  a  philosophical  treatise,  while  the  other  six  are 
mainly  of  a  doctrinal  character.     From  which  it  appears 
that  Swedenborg  is  to  be  regarded  first,  and  chiefly,  as  an 
expounder  of  Scripture,  and,  secondly,  as  an  expounder  of 
Christian  doctrine ;  while  his  experiences  in  the  spiritual 
world  were  employed  in  his  writings  simply  to  illustrate 
and  exemplify  the  spiritual  principles  and  laws  which  he 
set  forth. 

Current  opinion  about  Swedenborg  is  equally  at  fault  in 
one  other  respect.  TJie  present  tendency  of  religious  specu- 
lation is  essentially  anti-dogmatic,  calling  in  question  the 
old  interpretations  of  doctrine  and  Scripture  without  sup- 
plying anything  definite  in  their  place.      Swedenborg  is 


4 

T 


> 

t 


^ 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENB0RQIANISM1  6 

commonly  classed  among  these  negative  reformers.  But 
no  Christian  writer  has  covered  the  whole  ground  of  the- 
ology  and  ethics  so  completely  as  Swedenborg.  He  neither 
sets  aside  nor  weakens  the  force  of  any  Christian  doctrine. 
His  writings  simply  furnish  a  new  and  more  spiritual  ex- 
position of  the  Scriptures  and  of  Christian  doctrine  ;  a  sys- 
tem which  is  definite  and  positive  in  all  its  minutest  details, 
with  the  closest  logical  connection  and  completeness. 

Only  a  bare  outline  of  the  system  can  be  given,  of  course, 
in  a  brief  article  like  this.     If  I  were  writing  for  theolo- 
gians, I  should  say  that  the  system  is  much  more  nearly 
allied  to  the  earliest  Christian  theology,  which  grew  up  in 
the  Greek  schools,  than  to  the  later  and  more  mechanical 
interpretations  of  doctrine  which    characterized  Western 
theology  and  gave  tone  to  all  the  leading  Reformation  sys- 
tems.    Modern  writers  are  beginning  to  see  that  Christi- 
anity bore  earlier  and  perhaps  better  fruits  than  the  pre- 
dominantly legal  and  mechanical  forms  of  doctrine  which 
the  genius  of  Augustine  made  dominant  in  the  Western 
Church,  and  the  genius  of  Calvin  perpetuated  in  the  Re- 
formed Churches.     The  distinguishing  and  formative  idea 
of  this  earlier  theology  was  the  immanence  of  God  and  the 
reality  and  dominance  of  the  supernatural  or  spiritual.     It 
was  superseded  by  the  grosser  conceptions  of  the  Western 
theology  for  the  same  reason  that  the  simpler  forms  of  the 
apostolic  churches  were  superseded  by  rituals  which  ap- 
pealed to  the  senses,  and  by  autocratic  forms  of  government 
adapted  to  ignorant  peoples.     The  more  spiritual  concep- 
tions and  aspirations  continued  to  make  themselves  felt,  but 
mainly  in  movements  which  were  pronounced  heretical,  till 
at  last,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  the  Lord  raised  up  a  man, 
who,  under  Divine  guidance,  restored  the  true  spiritual  in- 


sir  -'  ■'!?*='•'?  ^S^^^*^^^^?*^^.^  "Jj».^ 


6 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBOROIANISMf 


V 


terpretation  of  Christianity,  for  which  this  long  succession 
of  protestanta  in  the  Church  had  been  blindly,  and  for  the 
most  part  vainly,  seeking. 

In  this  more  spiritual  scheme  of  doctrine  expounded  by 
Swedenborg,  there  is  little  which  will  commend  itself  to 
those  who  find  all  Christian  truth  summed  up  in  the  exist- 
ing orthodox  creeds.  But  there  are  many  sincere  Chris- 
tians in  all  sects  who  are  no  longer  content  with  these  old 
doctrinal  statements.  And  these  conscientious  seekers  after 
truth,  cherishing  the  hope  of  John  Robinson  of  Leyden, 
that  "  new  and  brighter  light  is  yet  destined  to  break  forth 
from  the  Word  of  God,"  will  not  be  deterred,  by  sneers 
about  "  novelties  of  doctrine,*'  from  looking  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  prophecy,  "  Behold,  I  make  all  things  new.'* 

But  these  doctrines  are  new  only  in  the  sense  that  lost 
truth  is  called  new  when  it  is  recovered.  Being  simply 
truth  drawn  from  the  Word  of  God,  it  is  as  old  as  the 
Word  of  God.  Each  man  reads  the  Scriptures  in  the  light 
of  whatever  doctrine  he  accepts.  Hence  the  innumerable 
meanings  imposed  upon  the  Scriptures,  and  the  weakness 
of  this  appeal  to  Scripture  for  the  support  of  any  doctrine. 
No  writer  on  theology  ever  drew  his  doctrine  more  directly 
and  plainly  from  Scripture  than  Swedenborg  does.  In  his 
doctrinal  treatises  he  quotes  Scripture  by  the  page. 

But  while  Swedenborg  teaches  very  clearly  the  neces- 
sity for  definite  forms  of  belief,  he  never  assumes  that  the 
whole  contents  of  Scripture  can  be  summed  up  in  dog- 
matic statements,  or  that  infinite  truth  can  be  compassed 
by  finite  intelligence.  No  writer  recognizes  more  clearly 
the  principle  so  admirably  stated  by  Frederick  Robertson. 
*^  that  spiritual  truth  is  discerned  by  the  spirit,  instead  of 
intellectually,  in  propositions ;  and,  therefore,  that  truth 


> 


f 


> 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENB0RQIANISM7  7 

must  be  taught  suggestively,  not  dogmatically."  Mere 
logical  processes  of  reasoning  are  seldom  found  in  Sweden- 
borg s  writings.  He  shuns  all  disputation.  He  expressly 
condemns  persuasion  as  an  infringement  on  intellectual 
freedom.  He  teaches  that  truth  is  to  the  mind  what  light 
is  to  the  eye,  and  where  there  is  spiritual  vision  spiritual 
truth  will  be  spontaneously  and  joyfully  accepted;  in 
other  words,  that  spiritual  things  can  never  otherwise  be 
discerned  than  in  a  spiritual  way.  He  appeals,  therefore, 
directly  to  the  religious  instincts  and  conscience,  and  the 
truth  he  offers,  if  seen,  comes  not  as  an  irritant  to  the 
reason,  but  as  a  refreshment  to  the  soul.  If  there  is  any 
satisfaction  to  be  gained  from  Swedenborg,  it  is  a  satis- 
faction of  legitimate  spiritual  appetites  or  needs,  a  satis- 
faction  which  allays  the  spirit  of  controversy  and  dis- 
courages argumentation.  Hence  it  has  been  well  said  of 
him  that  "  he  gives  the  intellect  a  repose  which  it  has 
lacked  throughout  history, — a  repose  as  natural,  and  there- 
fore as  sane  and  sweet,  as  the  sleep  of  infancy."  This  is 
the  repose,  not  of  intellectual  torpor,  but  of  calm  content. 
And  this  dominant  characteristic  of  his  writings  should  be 
kept  in  mind  by  all  who  attempt  to  study  them. 

Perhaps  the  clearest  idea  of  this  new  system  of  faith 
may  be  conveyed,  in  a  brief  space,  by  presenting  some  of 
the  salient  points  in  which  it  differs  from  the  old  theology 
which  was  universally  prevalent  in  Swedenborg  s  day,  but 
which  is  now  held  in  greatly  modified  forms. 

In  the  first  place,  Swedenborg  protests  strongly  against 
the  old  conceptions  of  the  Trinity  as  tending  to  destroy 
that  clear  apprehension  of  the  divine  unity  which  is  es- 
sential to  an  intelligent  love  and  worship  of  the  one  God. 
All  scholars  admit  that  the  word  petsona,  when  first  ap- 


■,X?tt?^i' 


^■^■•■^t"    *"  fK'T^ 


8 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBOROIANISMf 


plied  to   the  Trinity,  did  not  have  its  modern  meaning. 
It  was  probably  used  to  designate  a  real  distinction  in  the 
Godhead,  but  a  distinction  which  could  not  be  defined  in 
exact  terms.     But  now  that  modern  skepticism  has  created 
a  wide-spread  doubt  of  the  personality  of  God,  the  theo- 
logians have  come  to  realize  the  difficulty  of  defining  and 
enforcing,  at  the  same  time,  the  one  personality  and  the 
threefold  personality.     See  Professor  Fisher's  first  chapter 
in  his  new  book,  "  The  Grounds  of  Theistic  and  Christian 
Beliefs,''  where  he  begins  with  the  definition,  "  The  essen- 
tial  characteristics  of  personality  are  self-consciousness  and 
self-determination  ;  that  is  to  say,  these  are  the  elements 
common  to  all  spiritual  beings;"  making ^er^o/i  and  heiug 
essentially  identical   terms,  as  they  always  have  been   in 
the  popular  mind.     Does  not  this  justify  Swedcnborg's 
contention  that,   in   the  popular  belief  of  Christians,  the 
three  persons  are  three  beings,  which  is  tritheism  ?    And 
tritheism  is  not  a  harmless  error.     It  is  radical  and  far- 
reaching,  corrupting  all  doctrine  and  dissipating  all  true 
love  and  worship. 

Swedenborg,  however,  insists  upon  a  real  Trinity  in  the 
Godhead,  a  trinal  distinction  in  the  very  essentials  of 
the  Divine  nature.  These  he  defines  ontologically  as 
Love,  Wisdom,  and  their  combined  activity  and  procedure. 
A  type  of  this  Trinity  he  finds  in  all  created  things,  in 
their  substance,  form,  and  use;  and  in  man  in  his  emo- 
tional nature  or  will,  his  intellectual  nature  or  under- 
standing, and  the  combined  outcome  of  these  in  influence 
and  conduct.  The  Trinity  of  Scripture  is  the  same  thing 
revealed,  or  brought  down,  to  the  common  apprehension 
of  men.  The  Father  is  the  essential  Divine  nature  or 
Love ;  the  essence  and  substance,  and  therefore  the  source 


v> 


"•V,' 


ft 


.-■V 


^h 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORQIANlSMt  9 

and  parent  of  all  things ;  the  unrevealable  Divinity,  which 
man  hath  never  seen  or  conceived  of,  and  which  hath  only 
been  declared,  or  can  only  be  apprehended,  in  and  through 
the  Son  (John  i.  18).     The  Son  is  the  Wisdom  or  Word 
made  flesh,  brought  down,  through  an  assumed  human 
nature,  to  human  apprehension,  and  made  eflfective  for 
instruction,  for  judgment,  for  redemption,  and  for  s^va- 
tion  in   the  plane   of  corrupted   humanity.     The   Holy 
Spirit,  aa  revealed  through  the  Incarnation,  is  the  redeem- 
inc-  and  uplifting  power  of  Father  and  Son,  of  the  Divine 
Lwe,  and  the  Divine  Wisdom,  tabernacled  in  humanity 
to  energize  and  renew  it. 

This  Trinity,  it  will  be  seen,  is  not  Sabellian,— that  is, 
not  merely  phenomenal  and  transient.    It  is  as  real  a  Trinity 
as  can  be  conceived  of,  with  the  avoidance  of  tritheism. 
It  includes  in  one  Personal  Being  all  of  God  that  has  been 
or  can  be  revealed  to  men.     It  shows  that  the  Jehovah  of 
the  Old  Testament  and  the  Jesus  Christ  of  the  New  are 
the  same  God,  at  first  but  partially  revealed,  then  brought 
down  into  immediate  contact  with  fallen  humanity,  and 
henceforth  permanently  tabernacled  in  human  conscious- 
ness as  the  God-Man.     It  thus  sets  before  us  a  God  who 
is  infinite,  but  still  near ;  who  is  perfect,  but  still  a  par- 
laker  in  our  human  experiences;  who  is  immutable  and 
immovable,  but  still   inconceivably  sensitive   to   all    our 
needs  and  longings;  a  God  whom  we  can  love  and  serve 
and  worship  with  all  our  heart  and  soul  and  mind  and 

strength.  .,    ,     ,        •    ^i 

Again,  Swedenborg  differs  from  the  old  theology  in  the 
prominence  he  gives  to  the  spiritual  nature  of  man  and 
to  the  spiritual  realm  of  being,  as  contrasted  with  the 
physical  part  of  man  and  its  realm  of  being.     The  old 


< 


-      10 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBOROIANISMf 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENB0RGIANISM7 


11 


theology  is  pre-eminently  materialistic  in  its  conceptions 
of  man  and  his  destiny.  Man  was  created  to  live  eternally 
on  this  earth.  His  temporary  separation  from  the  body 
by  death  is  a  disorder  consequent  upon  the  Fall.  This 
disorder  is  to  be  rectified  by  the  restoration  of  all  men  to 
their  physical  bodies  and  to  this  physical  realm  of  being. 
This  materialistic  conception  pervades  the  whole  scheme  of 
doctrine,  especially  the  eschatological  doctrines. 

Swedenborg,  on  the  other  hand,  conceives  of  man  as  a 
spiritual  being,  created  for  an  endless  life  in  a  purely  spir- 
itual realm  of  being,  his  life  in  this  world  being  simply 
the  incipient  and  preparatory  stage  of  his  existence.     He 
is  here  for  a  brief  period  at  the  longest ;   and  then,  by 
dropping  his  physical  body,  he  passes  over  into  the  spirit- 
ual plane  of  life,  where,  as  a  spiritual  being,  he  lives  for 
ever.     The  spiritual  world  contains,  therefore,  all  who  have 
ever  lived  on  this  or  any  other  earth.     It  is  the  abode  of 
all  who  have  been  created  from  the  beginning,  except  the 
few  who  are  yet  passing  through  this  preparatory  stage  of 
life.     And  even  these  ought  not  to  be  excepted,  for  the 
essential  part  of  man  is  his  spiritual  nature,  and  this,  even 
from   its  beginning,  belongs  to   the  spiritual   world,  and 
lives  in  it,  though  unconsciously.     The  soul  of  man  could 
no  more  live  apart  from  the  spiritual  world  than  the  body 
could  live  apart  from  the  physical  world.     Our  spiritual 
nature,  therefore,  is  an  inhabitant  of  the  spiritual  world 
from  the  beginning  of  its  life.     We  are  unconscious  of  this 
fact  during  our  life  in  the  body,  because  our  consciousness, 
80  long  as  we  are  in  the  body,  is  limited  mainly  to  the 
sensual  or  physical  part  of  our  nature.     But  that  portion 
of  our  life  of  which  we  are  conscious  is  by  no  means  the 
whole  of  it.     Back  of  this,  or  beneath  this,  are  unflithomed 


f^ 


^tk 


i 


\ 


^ 


depths  of  being ;  and  in  those  depths  there  are  forces  and 
influences  working,  there  are  tides  of  influx  and  efflux 
surging  and  sinking,  which  are  manifest  to  our  conscious- 
ness, if  at  all,  only  through  dim,  indefinable  sensations  or 
unaccountable  changes  of  thought  and  feeling.  All  this 
is  explained  by  the  fact  that  we  have  other  companionships 
than  those  of  this  world,  that  we  are  actually  living  another 
life  than  that  which  pertains  to  this  world, — a  life  of  which 
we  are  only  partially  conscious,  the  issues  of  which  we  but 
feebly  apprehend. 

And  this  other  plane  of  being,  in  which  we  begin  to 
live  consciously  when  the  body  is  laid  aside,  What  is  it  ? 
Where  is  it  ? 

It  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  Swedenborg's  philosophy 
that  all  reality  lies  in  the  spiritual,  that  the  physical  is 
purely  phenomenal.  He  also  contends  that  space  and  time 
are  purely  physical  conditions.  The  soul  of  man  is  none 
the  less  the  real  man  because  it  is  destitute  of  physical 
qualities.  So  the  spiritual  plane  of  being  is  none  the  less 
real  because  physical  conditions  and  attributes  cannot  be 
ascribed  to  it.  Again,  the  soul  can  no  more  be  located  in 
some  portion  of  the  body  than  its  quality  can  be  expressed  in 
chemical  formulas.  So  the  spiritual  world  can  no  more  be 
located  in  some  corner  of  the  physical  universe,  or  its 
relation  to  this  earth  expressed  in  terms  of  space,  than  its 
constitution  can  be  defined  in  terms  of  chemistry  or  physics. 
In  our  attempts  to  define  spiritual  things  physical  terms, 
from  the  lack  of  anything  better,  must  be  employed,  but 
we  choose  those  which  have  acquired  most  fully  a  spiritual 


meanmg. 


The  best  we  can  do,  therefore,  in  defining  the  spiritual 
world,  is  to  say  that  it  is  a  realm  of  being  purely  spiritual, 


'*ii 


T---    ir,«      ,- 


•  5 


12 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORQIANISMJ 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORGIANISMf 


13 


subject  only  to  spiritual  laws.  And  as  the  accepted  theory 
of  light  necessitates  the  assumption  of  an  interstellar  ether, 
so  does  this  conception  of  the  spiritual  world  necessitate 
the  assumption  of  a  spiritual  substance ;  for  reality  involves 
substance.  And  in  defining  the  relation  of  the  spiritual 
world  to  the  physical,  we  can  only  say  that  the  one  is 
above  or  within  the  other, — not  in  the  sense  of  contiguity 
of  space,  but  as  the  soul  is  within  the  body,  or  as  all 
causes  are  within  and  above  effects.  Consequently,  we 
pass  at  death  from  the  natural  world  to  the  spiritual,  not 
by  any  passage  through  space  or  change  of  location,  but 
simply  by  being  relieved  of  the  physical  body,  and  by  the 
consequent  change  of  consciousness.  Death  is  sim'^Iy  the 
withdrawal  of  the  real  person  from  his  physical  environ- 
ments and  conditions,  followed  by^  the  awakening  of  his 
spiritual  faculties  to  a  clear  apprehension  of  his  spiritual 
environment  and  the  laws  and  conditions  of  the  spiritual 
life. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  that  this  conception  essentially 
changes,  almost  reverses,  the  point  of  view  from  which  all 
doctrine  is  regarded.  If  man  is  essentially  a  spiritual 
being,  and  only  incidentally  and  temporarily  endowed 
with  a  physical  nature ;  if,  even  while  encased  in  flesh,  he 
is  really  an  inhabitant  of  the  spiritual  world ;  if  the  influ- 
ences by  which  he  is  moulded  flow  mainly  from  the  spirit- 
ual surroundings  of  which  he  is  not  yet  conscious,  then 
the  fall  of  man  must  have  wrought  essential  changes  in 
the  spiritual  world ;  the  work  of  redemption  must  have 
had  relation  primarily  to  that  world ;  the  influences  to 
which  man  is  subject  from  that  world  must  constitute  a 
most  important  feature  of  his  regeneration  ;  that  world 
must 'be  the  theatre  of  all  general  judgments ;  death  and 


i\ 


ff 


f 


resurrection  would  be  simply  man's  losing  his  conscious 
connection  with  this  physical  realm  of  being  and  awaken- 
ing to  a  consciousness  of  his  spiritual  surroundings,  just 
as  we  awake  from  sleep  to  a  consciousness  of  our  physical 
surroundings ;  and  the  future  life  would  be  simply  a  con- 
tinuation  of  the  spiritual  life  we  have  been  living  here 
under  somewhat  different  laws  and  conditions. 

Let  us  see  a  little  more  fully  what  form  these  doctrines 
take  under  this  conception  of  human  life. 

Man  was  created,  we  are  taught,  in  the  image  and  like- 
ness  of  God.     This  refers   primarily,  of  course,  to   his 
spiritual  nature.     He  was  created  to  be  a  finite  recipient 
of  the  Divine  Life,  that  is,  of  the  Divine  Love  and  the 
Divine  Wisdom.    His  recipiency  of  the  Divine  Love  forms 
his  emotional  nature,  and  his  recipiency  of  the  Divine 
Wisdom  forms  his  intellectual  nature.     In  the  beginning, 
man   was  capable   of  receiving  and  reflecting  the  Divine 
Love  and  Wisdom  without  perversion  or  distortion.     But 
he  was  not  an  impassive  mirror.     That  he  might  be  a  being 
capable  of  reciprocating  the  Love  which  created  him  and 
filled  him  with  joy  and  light,  he  was  endowed  with  the 
power  and  responsibility  of  determining  his  affections  and 
thoughts,   and,   consequently,   his   life;    that   is,   he  was 
endowed    with    freedom    and    rationality.      This   freedom 
rested  on  a  sense  of  independence  of  God,  on  the  feeling 
that  one's  life  is  his  own.     This  feeling  of  self-dependence 
and  self-ownership  was  the  tree  of  knowing  good  and  evil. 
In  the  light  of  Divine  truth  it  was  seen  to  be  an  appear- 
ance, a  reverse  reflection  of  the  real   truth.     But  to  the 
lower  or  sense  nature,  it  seemed  a  reality.     Eating  of  the 
tree  of  knowing  good  and  evil  at  the  solicitation  of  the 
serpent  was  a  yielding  to  the  sense-nature  and  accepting  the 


'ii 

<",-i 


■%  .^" 


u 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENB0ROIANISM7 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORQIANISMf 


15 


illusion  as  true  in  place  of  the  real  truth.     By  so  doing 
man's  sense  of  dependence  upon  God  became  dimmed  and 
his  spiritual  intelligence  obscured,  and  little  by  little  love 
to  God  and  to  the  neighbor  lost  its  supremacy,  and  self-love 
took  its  place.     It  is  not  necessary  to  believe  that  all  this 
occurred  in  a  single  lifetime.     Man  did  not  drop  at  once 
from  the  highest  innocence  and  wisdom  to  the  depths  of 
folly  and  wickedness.     Adam,  like  the  other  names  in  the 
early  chapters  of  Genesis,  is  a  generic,  not  an  individual, 
appellation ;  and  the  spiritual  history  symbolized  by  Adam' 
and   the    transactions  in  Eden    may  have  covered   many 
generations.     But  the  fall,  though  gradual,  was  none  the 
less  real.     The  accumulating  evil  propensities,  transmitted 
from  parent  to  child,  gradually  undermined  the  spiritual 
life  and  obscured  all  spiritual  truth.     Consequently,  when 
we  reach   the  earliest  historic  period,  we  find  almost  no 
knowledge  of  God  or  of  true  spiritual  life.     The  world  is 
covered  by  an  almost  universal  idolatry  or  heathenism. 
Such   loyalty  to  God,  such   capacity  to  recognize  Divine 
truth,  such  disposition  to  yield  to  Divine  commands  as 
still  remained  among  men,  was  gathered  up  and  made  to 
serve  as  a  basis  for  Divine  revelation,  and  for  the  hope 
and  expectation  of  a  coming  Redeemer.     Bat  during  all 
these  centuries,  societies  of  evil  and  idolatrous  spirits\ad 
been  forming  in  the  spiritual   world,  from  the  millions 
pouring  into   that  world  from  this,  increasing  the  evil  in- 
fluences to  which  men  were  subject  and  correspondingly 
weakening  the  good  influences.     These  infernal  hosts^o 
increased  in  number  and  power  as  to  cut  off  from  men  all 
influx  from  heaven.     They  overshadowed  the  race  like  a 
dense  cloud.     The  most  direful  disorders  prevailed  alike 
in  the  spiritual  and  in  the  natural  worlds.     That  balance 


; 


4 

'  r 
< 


\ 


\ 


y 


r  . 


y 


between  heavenly  and  infernal  influences,  which  is  a  neces- 
sary condition  of  human  freedom,  was  destroyed ;  the 
devils  began  to  take  possession  of  the  bodies  as  well  as  of 
the  souls  of  men,  and  the  frequent  cases  of  individual 
obsession  foreshadowed  what  the  destiny  of  the  whole 
human  race  must  be,  unless  this  tide  of  evil  could  be 
rolled  back  and  the  infernal  hosts  reduced  to  subjection. 

This  indicates,  in  a  general  way,  what  it  was  that  man 
needed  to  be  saved  from.  It  was  not  the  anger  of  God ; 
it  was  not  an  accumulated  mass  of  penalty,  which  must  be 
satisfied  by  an  equivalent  suffering;  it  was  a  "lost  con- 
dition.*' The  race  was  submerged  in  spiritual  disorder  and 
darkness.  The  light  and  warmth  of  the  Divine  Sun,  and 
the  uplifting  influences  of  heaven,  could  no  longer  reach 
man  on  the  earth.  He  had  lost  the  ability  to  be  saved, 
not  alone  because  of  what  he  was  in  himself,  but  also 
because  of  the  spiritual  conditions  in  which  he  was  placed. 
Hell  was  triumphant.  Satan  had  encircled  the  human 
race  with  his  hosts,  closing  up  all  sources  of  relief,  and  a 
complete  victory  for  the  powers  of  evil  seemed  near  at 
hand.  Nothing  short  of  Divine  aid  could  save  mankind 
from  this  impending  danger. 

But  this  danger  had  been  foreseen  from  the  moment 
man  chose  self-intelligence  and  self-love  for  his  guides.  It 
was  promised  that  the  seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise 
the  serpent's  head.  This  prophecy  is  repeated  throughout 
the  Old  Testament  in  a  variety  of  forms.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, one  of  the  earliest  of  the  Messianic  prophecies, — 
''  A  star  goeth  forth  out  of  Jacob,  and  a  sceptre  riseth  out 
of  Israel,  and  smiteth  the  borders  of  Moab,  and  destroyeth 
all  the  sons  of  tumult."  Take  another  example  from  one 
of  the  later  prophets, — '^  Behold,  theday  of  the  Lordcometh. 


f^=r':r7T--<r- 


16 


W^AT  IS  SWEDENBORGIANISMf 


.  .  .  And  the  Lord  shall  go  forth  and  fight  against  those 
nations  like  the  day  of  His  fighting,  in  the  day  of  battle. 
And  his  feet  shall  stand  in  that  day  upon  the  Mount  of 
Olives."  There  is  scarcely  a  Messianic  prophecy  in  the 
Old  Testament  wherein  the  overthrow  of  enemies  is  not 
the  most  prominent  feature.  The  same  prophetic  strain  is 
taken  up  in  the  New  Testament, — "  He  hath  showed  strength  ' 
with  His  arm ;  he  hath  scattered  the  proud  in  the  imag- 
ination of  their  hearts ;  He  hath  put  down  princes  from 
their  thrones,"  etc.  And  again, — '*  Blessed  be  the  Lord 
God  of  Israel,  for  He  hath  visited  and  wrought  redemption 
for  His  people  .  .  .  salvation  from  our  enemies  ...  to  grant 
unto  us,  that  we,  being  delivered  out  of  the  hand  of  our 
enemies,  should  serve  Him  without  fear.'*  And  we  are 
taught  that  He  came  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil,  to 
destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death  ;  that  is,  the  devil ; 
to  cast  out  the  prince  of  this  world,  and  to  put  all  things 
under  His  feet. 

Is  it  not  strange  that  so  obvious  a  phase  of  Scripture 
teaching  should  have  been  almost  entirely  ignored  by  the 
old  theology  ?  The  Christ  was  to  come  to  overthrow  His 
enemies  and  deliver  His  people  from  captivity.  What  else 
could  this  mean  than  the  overthrow  of  the  infernal  hosts 
which  had  been  gathering  for  centuries  in  the  spiritual 
world,  and  which,  at  last,  so  overshadowed  the  race  on  this 
earth  as  to  shut  out  all  saving  influence  ? 

This  is  one  of  "  the  lost  truths  of  Christianity."  And 
it  was  lost  because  it  has  no  place  in  a  materialistic  scheme 
of  doctrine.  It  involves  a  recognition  of  the  spiritual 
world,  and  of  man's  intimate  relation  to  it.  The  early 
Christians,  to  whom  the  supernatural  world  was  a  vivid 
reality,  and  not  a  fleeting  shadow,  found  in  these  prophc 


^ 

I^ 

1 

< 

I 

-< 

I 

1 

I 

-t 

h 

r 

* 

l> 

WHAT  IS  SWEDENBOROIANISMt 


17 


1 

r 


< 


r 


X 


y 


cies  the  central  truth  of  their  faith.  Their  doctrine  of  the 
atonement  was  that  Christ  came  to  overthrow  the  devil,  to 
wrest  man  from  his  grasp,  to  deliver  him  from  spiritual 
captivity,  and  restore  to  him  freedom  and  the  power  of 
salvation.  With  this  doctrine  of  the  atonement,  which 
inspired  and  sustained  the  faith  of  the  early  Christians, 
'  supporting  them  in  all  their  struggles  and  sufferings,  and 
satisfying  the  Christian  Church  for  the  first  thousand 
years,  the  doctrine  of  Swedenborg  is  in  substantial  agree- 
ment. 

A  few  words  are  necessary  in  respect  to  the  Incarnation 
and  what  was  accomplished  by  it.  Our  space  will  permit 
only  a  few  general  statements,  which  I  hope  will  not  prove 
misleading.  It  must  be  remembered  that  we  arc  here 
dealing  with  the  mysteries  of  the  Divine  nature,  of  which 
man  can  know  but  little.  But  some  general  truths  are 
necessary  to  any  right  conception  of  God  and  of  what  He 
has  done  for  us. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Scriptures  make  it  very  clear  that 
it  was  the  one  God,  the  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament, 
who  assumed  the  human  nature  and  was  thereby  revealed 
to  man  as  Jesus  Christ.  And  the  object  of  this  was  to 
restore  to  man  the  conditions  of  salvation,  by  overthrow- 
ing the  powers  of  evil  and  bringing  man  back  into  right 
relations  to  God  and  heaven.  This  God  chose  to  do  in 
strict  accordance  with  spiritual  law.  The  Divine  came 
down  to  meet  evil,  where  alone  it  can  be  met  without 
miracle,  on  the  plane  of  humanity.  God  took  upon  Him- 
self a  nature  wherein  goodness  and  truth  could  come  in 
contact  with,  and  through  experiences  strictly  human 
could  combat  and  overcome  evil  and  falsity.  How  this 
yiras  done  the  Gospels  tell  us  in  the  simplest  language. 


< 


18  WHAT  JS  SWEDENBORQIANISMf 

The  only  thing  miraculous  about  this  birth  was  that  there 
was  no  human  father.     All  else  seems  to  have  been  in 
strict  accordance  with  spiritual  and  physical  law.      The 
child  was  born  as  other  children  were  born,  and  the  life 
which  followed  was  certainly  on  the  one  side  an  essentially 
human  life.     But  the  Gospels   make  it  plainly  evident 
that  within  and  above  this  human  side  of  the  life,  there 
was   such   an    immediate   presence   and   activity   of    the 
Divine  as  would  be  involved  in  the  fact  that  in  Christ  the 
Divine  and  the  human  had  met.     The  interior  workings 
of  this  twofold  life  of  the  God-Man  it  is  not  for  the  hum^n 
mind  to  fathom.     Of  this,  however,  we  are  assured,  both 
that  His  experiences  were  truly  human  experiences,  and 
that  they  included  in  their  scope  all  possible  human  ex- 
periences.    There  is  no  infernal  influence  to  which  man 
can  ever  be  subject,  no  form  of  delusion  by  which  he  can 
be  seduced,  which  our  Lord  did  not  meet  and  completely 
overcome.      The  powers  of  evil   were  completely  subju- 
gated, order  was  re-established  in  the  spiritual  world,  the 
balance  of  heavenly  and   infernal  influence,  which  insures 
human  freedom,  was  restored,  and  the  hells  could  hence- 
forth have  no  influence  over  man  beyond  what  the  man 
himself  freely  admitted. 

At  the  same  time,  this  perfect  obedience  to  all  the  laws 
of  human  life,  this  complete  realization  of  the  life  of 
heaven  on  the  earth,  stood  henceforth  as  an  inspiring  ex- 
ample to  the  world.  There  could  be  no  more  intelligible 
and  impressive  revelation  of  what  a  true  human  life  is  than 
that  which  we  have  in  the  life  and  teachings  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  But  this  truth  is  robbed  of  all  force  and 
reality  unless  it  is  seen  and  acknowledged  that  the  human 
nature  which  our  Lord  assumed  was  an  infirm  nature  like 


l> 


< 


J 


i 

< 

i 


<. 


< 


> 


% 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORQIANISMf 


19 


ours,  and  consequently  that  His  experiences  as  a  man  were 
truly  human  experiences.  This  alone  gives  us  the  assur- 
ance that  the  Divine  life  has  been  brought  down  into  actual 
contact  with  the  currents  of  our  daily  life,  and  will,  at  any 
moment  that  we  open  the  way  for  it,  flow  in  to  reinforce 
and  sustain  whatever  is  true  and  good  in  us,  and  to  rebuke 
and  resist  whatever  is  evil  and  false. 

The  old  theology  fails  to  recognize  another  feature  of 
our  Lord's  work  in  the  flesh  to  which  Swedenborg  gives 
special  emphasis.  In  Christ's  human  life  and  experiences, 
the  old  theology  seems  to  see  little  of  any  practical  signifi- 
cance, except  the  sufi'erings  by  which  He  satisfied  the 
accumulated  penalties  of  human  transgression.  But  that 
life  brings  clearly  before  us  certain  very  significant  facts. 
It  was  certainly,  on  the  one  side,  an  actual  human  life,  a 
life  "  tempted  in  every  way  like  as  we  are,  apart  from  sin." 
Every  possible  phase  of  infernal  solicitation  was  brought 
to  bear  upon  that  nature ;  and  every  such  solicitation  was 
met  by  the  most  complete  repulse.  In  that  nature,  there- 
fore, was  summed  up  every  spiritual  experience  possible  to 
man  except  such  as  comes  from  yielding  to  temptation. 
What  must  have  been  the  efi*ect  of  that  experience  on  the 
assumed  nature  ?  Then  we  have  the  suggestive  utterances 
Bf  the  Lord  Himself,  such  as  this:  "  I  have  a  baptism  to 
be  baptized  with,  and  how  am  I  straitened"  (distrcvssed, 
perplexed,  afflicted)  "  till  it  be  accomplished."  This  bap- 
tism must  have  been  the  spiritual  purification  or  sancti- 
fication  which  was  going  on  in  His  human  nature.  And 
this.  He  teaches  us,  was  needful  to  human  salvation.  "  For 
their  sakes  I  sanctify  Myself,  that  they  also  might  be  sanc- 
tified through  the  truth."  So  the  apostle  tells  us  that  He 
"  W^  made  perfect  through  suffering ^     And  that  it  waa 


20 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENB0RGIANISM1 


"  by  what  He  Himself  had  suffered  in  being  tempted,  that 
He  is  able  to  succor  them  that  are  tempted."  Add  to  this 
the  fact  that  only  of  His  human,  not  of  His  Divine,  nature 
could  He  have  said, — ''  All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in 
heaven  and  on  earth ;"  and,  ''  as  the  Father  hath  life  in 
Himself,  so  hath  He  given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in 
Himself;'*  and  that  it  was  through  that  nature,  glorified, 
made  Divine,  and  thus  made  one  with  the  Divine,  that  He 
afterward  revealed  Himself  to  man  as  the  "  First  and  the 
Last,  the  Beginning  and  the  End,  the  Almighty," — and 
have  we  not  abundant  ground  for  Swedeuborg's  doctrine  of 
the  Divine  Humanity,  which  is,  that  the  assumed  nature 
was  transformed,  by  the  experiences  to  which  it  wa^  sub- 
ject, into  a  Divine  Human,  which  henceforth  became  the 
permanent  instrument  of  Divine  operation,  and  the  chan- 
nel of  that  governing  and  energizing  influence  whereby  the 
infernal  powers  are  confined  within  their  legitimate  limits, 
and  humanity  is  slowly  being  uplifted  and  regenerated. 
This  is  our  rainbow  witness  that  the  flood  of  evil  shall 
never  again  overflow  the  world.  This  also  is  implied  in 
the  teaching  that  the  Holy  Spirit  could  not  be  given  until 
Jesus  was  glorified,  that  He  must  go  away  that  the  Com- 
forter might  come. 

Finally  this  doctrine  brings  before  us  the  personality  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  only  personality  under  which 
the  Infinite  Jehovah  can  be  clearly  revealed  and  made 
present  to  us.  "  In  Him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily";  hence  all  the  fulness  of  the  Trinity. 
The  Father,  ^'  which  dwelleth  within  Him,"  is  the  Essen- 
tial Divinity  which  no  man  can  know  except  as  it  is  re- 
vealed through  the  Son.  The  Son  is  the  Divine  Human 
through  which  the  Divine  is  revealed,  and  through  which 


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WBAT  tS  SWEDENBOROIANISMi 


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God  comes  down  into  spiritual  contact  with  man  to  "  save 
him  from  his  sins."  And  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  energizing 
and  saving  influence  which  proceeds  from  the  Father 
through  the  Sou  to  regenerate  and  save  mankind.  This 
is  a  Trinity  which  leaves  the  unity  of  God  intact,  and 
points  us  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  God  revealed  or 
**  declared,"  whom  we  are  to  love,  and  worship,  and  serve. 

It  naturally  follows,  from  the  doctrine  stated  above,  at 
the  true  human  life  is  the  Christ-life,  and  that  the  regen- 
erate life  is  simply  living  the  life  which  He  gives,  living  from 
Him,  not  from  our  selfhood.  But  as  it  is  our  manhood 
which  makes  us  truly  His  children,  He  must  needs,  in  the 
fullest  degree,  respect  our  manhood  in  everything  He 
does  for  us ;  and  in  giving  us  His  life,  He  must  win  from 
us  our  fullest  consent.  It  must  be  a  consent  which  includes 
an  active  response  from  our  whole  spiritual  nature.  It 
cannot  be  a  consent  of  the  lips  alone,  nor  the  consent  of 
a  feeble  desire  to  be  saved,  nor  of  a  feeble  faith  in  the 
means  of  salvation.  It  must  be  a  consent  which  includes 
desire,  determination,  faith,  and  conduct.  In  other  words, 
while  it  is  true  that  man  does  not  save  himself,  while  it  is 
true  that  he  has  no  knowledge  of  salvation,  no  desire  to 
be  saved,  no  power  to  resist  evil  or  do  good,  except  what 
he  receives  as  a  direct  gift  from  the  Lord,  it  is  also  true 
that  the  Lord  requires  from  man  a  desire  to  be  saved  and 
a  faith  in  Him  which  shall  find  expression  in  nothing 
short  of  a  faithful  and  continued  resistance  to  whatever 
he  finds  in  himself  which  is  contrary  to  the  Divine  will. 

Regeneration,  therefore,  has  its  human  and  its  Divine 
side.  On  its  human  side,  it  calls  forth  all  the  powers  and 
faculties  of  our  moral  nature.  It  is  not  a  product  of  faith 
alone,  or  of  a  sense  of  dependence  upon  God.     That  is  the 


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22 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORQIANlSMf 


higher  or  interior  side  of  it.  The  other  side  is  a  persist- 
ent, self-compelled  obedience  to  the  Divine  precepts,  the 
laws  of  right  living,  and  its  progress  is  determined  bj  the 
amount  of  self-compelled  obedience  the  Lord  can  induce  us 
to  exercise.  It  is,  therefore,  not  an  instantaneous,  but  a 
gradual  process  or  experience.  The  new  life  begins  in  a 
new  birth ;  but  man  is  no  more  born  a  full-grown  man 
spiritually  than  physically.  The  new  life  begins  in  spirit- 
ual feebleness  and  ignorance  ;  it  goes  on  by  gradual  stages  ; 
it  has  its  days  and  its  nights,  its  summers  and  its  winters ; 
but  it  cannot  fail,  except  from  man's  rejection  of  the 
Divine-Human  life,  in  which  it  has  its  root.  ^ 

Religion,  then,  is  a  new  life  in  the  soul.  And  this  new 
life  is,  of  course,  the  heavenly  life,  which  has,  as  its  gen- 
eral and  dominant  motive,  love  to  the  Lord  and  to  the 
neighbor.  It  is  a  life,  therefore,  which  manifests  itself  in 
an  unselfish  and  loving  spirit,  in  honesty  and  strict  integ- 
rity in  all  the  affairs  of  life,  and  in  loving  service  to  our 
fellow-men.  And  where  these  are  lacking,  the  religious 
life  must  be  very  feeble,  if  it  exists  at  all. 

But  it  is  a  law  of  the  spiritual  as  well  as  of  the  physical 
realm  that  growth  involves  permanence,  and  that  the  more 
there  is  involved  in  maturity  the  greater  the  permanence. 
And  we  have  abundant  proof  from  experience  that  either 
good  or  bad  character,  in  the  degree  that  it  is  persisted  in, 
tends  to  become  fixed  and  permanent.  Every  one  believes 
that  the  peace  and  blessedness  of  heaven  spring  from  an 
established  goodness  of  life,  from  which  evil  is  effectually 
banished.  But  can  goodness  of  character  attain  to  such 
complete  dominance  and  permanence,  and  not  badness  of 
character?  If  not,  then  has  not  man  unlimited  freedom 
only  to  be  good,  with  a  partial  and  limited  freedom  toward 


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WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORQIANISMf 


23 


evil  ?  Swedentorg  contends  that  man  is  so  far  free  that 
he  may  give  to  evil,  by  continued  choice  and  confirmation, 
an  entire  and  permanent  supremacy  in  his  life.  And  this 
he  does  in  the  face  of  the  utmost  influence  wliich  the  Lord 
can  exert  upon  him  without  violating  his  freedom  and 
destroying  his  manhood.  Consequently,  man  alone  is  re- 
sponsible for  this  permanence  of  evil  in  the  character. 

Heaven  and  hell  are  simply  the  result  of  man's  choice 
of  character.     If  a  man  seeks  and  learns  to  love  purity, 
uprightness,  heavenly-mindedness,  he  reaps  the  fruits  of 
that  love,  and  even  during  his  life  in  the  world  is  associated 
with  those  in  the  spiritual  world  of  like  character.     His 
passing  into  the  other  world  does  not  change  his  internal 
and  essential,  but  only  his  external  and  accidental,  associa- 
tions.    He  is  relieved  of  the  trials  and  annoyances  which 
grow  out  of  these  worldly  associations  and  responsibilities, 
he  comes  into  conscious  association  with  those  between 
whom  and  himself  there  can  be  only  the  fullest  reciproca- 
tion  of  thought  and  feeling,  and  his  surroundings  reflect 
the   beauty  and  joyousness  of  his   inner   life.     This   is 

heaven. 

Those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  seek,  in  this  life,  and 
learn  to  love,  what  is  unheavenly,  and  confirm  and  harden 
themselves  in  that  love,  thereby  bring  about  themselves, 
even  while  they  are  here,  infernal  associations  and  influ- 
ences.    But  in  this  world  they  are  also  associated,  by  many 
external  ties,  with  those  who  are  better  than  themselves, 
whereby  they  are  restrained  from  a  free  expression  of  their 
desires  and  preferences.     When  they  pass  into  the  other 
world,  they  both  find  relief  from  those  external  ties  and 
restraints  and  also  enter  into  conscious  and  unrestrained 
issociation  with  those  like  themselves ;  and  their  surround- 


l^maai^ 


24 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORQIANISMf 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORGIANISMf 


25 


ings  reflect  the  deformity  and  hideousness  of  their  inner 
life.     And  this  is  hell. 

But  there  are  few  who  are  so  wholly  good  or  so  wholly 
bad  as  to  be  ready  to  enter  at  once  into  these  heavenly  or 
infernal  associations.     No  man's  character  is  fully  deter- 
mined until  he  has  been  brought  into  the  clear  light  of 
truth,  and  in  that  light  has  made  his  determining  choice. 
And  such  final  judgment,  that  is,  such  final  determinations 
of  character,  are  scarcely  possible  in  this  world,  where  the 
good  and   the  evil  are  inextricably  mingled,  and   where, 
from  that  and  other  causes,  few,  even  of  the  well-disposed, 
can  be  brought  to  a  full  apprehension  and  realization  of 
the  truth.     "  After  death  cometh  the  judgment."     And 
the    judgment  consists  simply  in  man's    being   brought, 
little  by  little,  into  the  light  of  truth,  and  in  his  accept- 
ance or  rejection  of  the  truth,  as  his  dominant  internal 
loves   or   character  may  determine.     And  as  everything 
pertaining   to   human    character   is   susceptible   only   of 
gradual  change,  this  work  of  judgment  must  be  a  gradual, 
and  sometimes  a  long-continued,  process.     And  this  jud^*- 
ment  period  or  state  must  evidently  be  a  state  essentially 
distinct  both  from  the    heavenly  and  the  infernal    state. 
Swedenborg  calls  this  the  World  of  Spirits.     It  is  by  no 
means  identical  with  the  Romish  doctrine  of  purgatory ; 
but  it  furnishes  the  truth  of  which  that  doctrine  was  the 
perversion,  and  which  Protestantism  unfortunately  failed 
to  recognize. 

The  point  in  Swedenborg's  teachings  which  it  is  most 
difficult  to  state  in  a  brief  form  is  his  doctrine  of  the 
Sacred  Scriptures.  Like  the  Jews  and  the  early  Chris- 
tians, he  recognizes  two  grades  or  kinds  of  inspiration  by 
which  the  books  constituting  our  present  canon  are  dis- 


4 


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tinguished.  In  the  first  class,  he  places  all  the  books, 
except  Ruth,  which  precede  the  Chronicles;  also  the 
Psalms,  the  Prophets,  the  Gospels  and  the  book  of  Revela- 
tion. To  the  remaining  books  he  ascribes  an  inspiration 
very  similar  to  that  which  is  ascribed  to  them  by  recent 
evangelical  writers.  But  he  elevates  the  first  class  so  far 
above  the  second,  and  says  so  little  about  the  character  of 
the  second  class,  as  to  lead  undiscriminating  readers  to 
assume  that  he  ascribes  no  Divine  guidance  at  all  to  the 
writers  of  the  second  class.  His  frequent  quotations  from 
these  writers  in  support  of  the  doctrine  he  is  expounding 
is  a  sufficient  answer  to  this  charge. 

The  books  of  the  first  class  constitute  the  veritable  Word 
of  God.     They  are  the  Divine  Truth  itself,  brought  down 
and  accommodated  to  human  apprehension.     In  this  body 
of  history,  and  law,  and  prophecy,  the  Lord  is  actually 
present  with  man.     Here  also  Swedenborg  revives  a  doc- 
trine of  the  early  Christian  Church,— the  immanence  of 
God   in   Holy   Scripture,  which  is  made  evident  by  an 
apprehension  of  its  higher  meanings.     Down  to  the  time 
of  the  Reformation,  though  the  extravagances  which  grew 
out  of  an  abuse  of  the  doctrine  were  often  rebuked,  this 
doctrine  of  higher  meanings  in  Scripture  than  that  of  the 
letter  was  almost  universally  accepted.     The  early  Church 
held  that  the  sense  of  the  letter  is  to  Scripture  what  the 
body  is  to  man,  simply  the  clothing  and  medium  through 
which  the  soul  reveals  itself.     They  found  this  doctrine 
clearly  taught  in  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments. 
They  found  in  the  Psalms,  for  instance,  a  spiritual  signifi- 
cance ascribed  to  the  leading  points  of  Jewish  history.   (See, 
as  an  example,  Ps.  Ixxviii.)     They  found  the  Old  Testa- 
ment prophecies  declared  fulfilled  in  the  New  Testament 


■"-■•'.- r^" 


26 


WBAT  IS  SWEDENBORQIANISMf 


WBaT  is  SWEDENBOROlANlSMf 


27 


in  such  a  way  as  made  it  necessary  to  ascribe  to  them  a 
spiritual  meaning.  They  found  the  Lord  Himself  giving 
a  spiritual  significance  to  the  commandments  and  to  the 
Jewish  ceremonies.  They  found  the  Apostolic  writers 
doing  the  same.  Why  then  should  they  not  ascribe  to 
the  Gospel  histories  also,  and  to  the  Apocalyptic  prophe- 
cies, a  higher  meaning  than  that  of  the  letter? 

But  one  naturally  asks,  If  there  are  such  higher  mean- 
ings in  the  Word  of  God,  why  were  they  not  more  fully 
disclosed  to  the  early  Christians  ?  This  question  applies  to 
all  revelation  of  spiritual  truth  ;  and  the  only  answer  is  that 
truth  is  given  to  men  as  fast  as  they  are  prepared  to  accept 
it  and  profit  by  it.  The  early  Christians  were  able  to 
grasp  the  essential  facts  of  Christianity.  The  way  they 
comprehended  those  facts  we  cannot  be  very  certain  about ; 
but  we  know  that  the  Church  very  speedily  drifted  into 
false  doctrines  and  erroneous  practices,  which  shows  how 
little  prepared  the  human  mind  then  was  for  interior  spirit- 
ual truth.  Furthermore,  the  relation  between  the  letter 
and  the  spirit  in  Scripture  is  the  same  as  the  relation  be- 
tween body  and  soul,  between  the  physical  and  the  spiritual 
throughout  nature.  This  principle  could  find  entrance  into 
the  thought  of  man  only  when  more  accurate  conceptions, 
both  of  the  spiritual  and  of  the  physical,  had  been  reached. 
And  we  all  know  what  progress  the  world  has  made,  both 
in  natural  and  in  spiritual  intelligence,  in  eighteen  hundred 
years. 

We  believe  that  when  the  time  had  come  for  making 
known  to  the  Christian  world  the  law  which  lays  open  the 
higher  meanings  in  the  Divine  Word,  a  man  was  provi- 
dentially called  and  trained  to  do  this  work.  What  this 
law  is  and  how  it  is  applied  to  the  interpretation  of  Scrip- 


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ture  can  only  be  suggested  here.  Its  fundamental  idea  is 
this :  that  as  the  body  not  only  clothes  but  also  reveals  the 
soul,  so,  universally,  does  the  physical  or  natural  both 
clothe  and  reveal  the  spiritual.  And  the  body  reveals  the 
soul,  because  it,  in  every  way,  corresponds  to  it— is  the 
type  of  it.  So  everywhere,  throughout  creation,  in  all 
history,  in  all  language,  this  law  prevails.  The  physical 
or  natural  or  phenomenal  is  the  outcome  of  the  spiritual, 
corresponds  to  the  spiritual,  and  therefore,  when  under- 
stood, reveals  it.  In  a  profounder  sense  than  the  meta- 
physicians have  ever  dreamed  is  it  true  that  the  mind  deals 
only  with  symbols,  and  its  chief  function  is  to  interpret 

the  symbols. 

But  this  applies,  in  a  special  sense,  to  the  revelation  of 
Divine  Truth  to  men.     Such  revelation  must  be  adapted 
to  all  grades  of  intelligence,  so  that  the  simple  may  appre- 
hend it  in  simplicity,  and  the  wise  in  the  measure  of  their 
wisdom.     And  this  can  only  be  adequately  done  through 
what  we  may  be  permitted  to  call  a  Divine-Human  lan- 
guage, a  language  in  which  the  correspondential  relation 
between  the  spiritual  or  real,  and  the  physical  or  phenome- 
nal is  fully  exemplified.     This  is  the  language  in  which 
Divine  Truth  is  conveyed  to  men  in  the  Divine  Word. 
And  when  this  law  of  correspondence  is  applied  to  the 
Divine   Word,   it   opens   everywhere,  within   the   letter, 
higher  meanings,  which  themselves  demonstrate  the  law ; 
as  the  application  of  the  law  by  which  the  hieroglyphics 
are  read  is  a  demonstration  of  that  law.     It  shows  that 
every  natural  picture  set  before  the  mind  in  the  letter, 
whether  it  be  drawn  from  something  which  actually  oc- 
curred or  not,  is  a  perfect  reflection  of  some  spiritual  ex- 
perience or  state. 


'•4  J 


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28 


Wn:AT  IS  SWEDENBORGIANISMf 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORGIANISMf 


29 


Take,  for  instance,  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  which 
the  theologians  have  tried  in  vain  to  reconcile  with  the 
conclusions  of  modern  science,  and  which  we  are  now 
assured  is  simply  an  ancient  Babylonian  tradition.  It 
matters  little  with  whom  these  conceptions  of  creation 
originated,  when  we  see  that  they  have  been  divinely  em* 
ployed  to  reflect  the  processes  of  man's  spiritual  creation, — 
the  way  man  was  brought  and  is  brought  from  the  chaos 
of  nature  into  the  spiritual  image  and  likeness  of  God.  It 
matters  little  whence  came  the  picture  of  Eden,  when  it  is 
seen  to  depict  the  paradise  or  heavenly  state  of  mind, 
which  is  set  before  us  as  the  ideal  we  are  to  strive  for.  So 
the  question  whether  the  story  of  the  Fall  is  only  a  para- 
ble, or  is  an  account  of  something  which  actually  occurred, 
becomes  of  little  consequence  when  it  is  seen  to  depict,  in 
the  clearest  and  fullest  manner,  what  comes  to  every  man 
who  rejects  Divine  guidance  and  yields  to  the  delusions 
which  are  urged  upon  him  by  his  sensuous  nature.  This 
serpent  spirit  was  never  more  active  or  alluring  than  to- 
day, and  the  lessons  of  this  third  chapter  of  Genesis  never 
more  needed.  So,  again,  are  confirmed  practices  of  the 
Jews,  such  as  the  bloody  sacrifices,  the  customs  springing 
from  revenge  and  retaliation,  which  are  common  to  all 
semi-civilized  peoples,  even  that  of  the  extermination  of 
enemies,  were  made  use  of  to  symbolize  the  Christian  law  of 
sacrifice  or  self-consecration,  and  that  relentless  hostility  to 
spiritual  enemies, — that  is,  evils  in  the  character, — which 
alone  will  secure  their  extermination. 

Enough  has  already  been  said  to  indicate  the  general 
character  of  Swedenborg's  eschatology.  Death  is  simply  a 
laying  aside  of  the  physical  body ;  resurrection  is  awaken- 
ing  to   consciousness   in    the   spiritual    world.      And   as 


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those  to  whom  this  change  has  come  are  never  again  to 
resume  their  physical  bodies,  the  spiritual  world  must  be 
the  theatre  of  all   general  judgments.     Such  judgments 
have  come  at  the  close  of  every  dispensation.     The  close 
of  the  first  dispensation  and  the  judgment  accompanying 
it  are  typically  described  in  the  story  of  the  flood.    Another 
general  judgment  occurred,  as  the  Gospels  plainly  indicate, 
when  the  Lord  revealed  Himself  in  the  flesh.     The  first 
age  of  the  Christian  dispensation  r<3ached  its  consummation 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century.     All  Christian  writers 
are  agreed   that   Christianity  about  that  time  was  at  its 
lowest  ebb.     We  all  know  what  the  world's  progress,  ma- 
terial and  spiritual,  has  been  since  that  time.     No  words 
can  depict,  no  mere  worldly  philosophy  can  account  for, 
the  wonders  of  the  New  Age  on  which  the  world  then 
entered.     Swedenborg  finds  a  spiritual  cause  for  it  in  the 
fact  that  a  general  judgment  was  then  accomplished  in  the 
spiritual   world,  similar   to  that  which   accompanied   the 
close  of  the  Jewish  dispensation,  whereby  the  world  was 
brought  under   new  spiritual    conditions   and   influences. 
The  clouds  which  had  long  obscured  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness were  dispersed,  and  the  human  mind,  quickened  and 
stirred  by  the  new  light  and  warmth,  everywhere  gave 
^  evidence  that  the  winter  was  past  and  a  new  spring  had 
dawned.     Between  all  this  intellectual  and  spiritual  quick- 
ening and  the  opening  of  the  higher  senses  of  the  Divine 
Word,  by  the  disclosure  of  the  law  of  correspondence, 
there  would  seem  to  be  little  or  no  connection.     But  if  it 
should  come  to  be  seen,  by-and-by,  that  the  new  currents 
of  thought  which  are  sweeping  away  the  old  errors  have 
their  orrgin  in  that  fountain,  Swedenborg's  claim  will  seem 
\ess  preposterous. 


vrvw* 


30 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORQIANISMf 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORQIANISMf 


31 


Swedenborg  claims  simply  to  have  been  called  by  the 
Lord  to  report  to  the  world  what  then  occurred.  He  was 
permitted  to  witness  and  describe  the  judgment  which 
was  accomplished  in  the  spiritual  world.  It  was  given 
him  to  perceive  and  understand  how  the  spiritual  realm  of 
being  is  related  to  the  physical,  and  from  this  to  under- 
stand the  law  of  correspondence,  which  is  the  key  to  the 
higher  meanings  of  the  Divine  Word.  This  enabled  him 
to  open  to  the  world  the  inner  contents  of  the  Word,  and  to 
unfold  the  true  nature  of  God  and  man,  and  their  mutual 
relations,  which  had  been  so  entirely  misapprehended. 

It  is  plain  that  if  there  was  such  a  work  as  this  to  be 
done,  it  must  have  been  done  in  essentially  the  way  in 
which  Swedenborg  claims  that  it  was  done.  He  claims 
that  he  was  providentially  endowed  and  equipped  for  this 
work,  and  the  history  of  his  life  confirms  this  claim. 
Until  he  was  fifty-six  years  of  age  he  was  an  ardent  student 
of  natural  science,  a  writer  of  wide  repute,  the  first  au- 
thority in  Sweden,  if  not  in  Europe,  in  mining  affairs,  and 
a  statesman  held  in  high  esteem  for  his  ability,  prudence, 
and  integrity.  He  was  a  man  not  only  of  exceptional 
learning,  but  also  of  deep  philosophical  insight.  He  was, 
therefore,  in  every  way  most  eminently  fitted  for  just  such 
a  work  as,  by  his  claim,  he  was  called  to  do.  He  was 
admitted,  by  the  opening  of  his  spiritual  senses,  to  the 
spiritual  world,  and  for  twenty-seven  years  he  was  engaged 
in  learning  and  expounding  the  secrets  of  human  life  and 
destiny. 

Swedenborg^s  claim  to  this  open  vision  of  the  spiritual 
world  is  the  only  valid  ground  for  the  belief  that  he  was 
insane.  If  no  such  vision  was  providentially  granted  him, 
he  was,  of  course,  the  victim  of  a  monstrous  delusion.    How 


4 


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t 


is  this  question  to  be  settled  ?  Evidently  by  the  general 
credibility  of  his  teachings  and  the  agreement  of  the  nature 
and  contents  of  his  visions  with  what  is  credible  in  his  exposi- 
tions of  doctrine  and  Scripture.  It  is  plainly  unfair  to  in- 
sist that  he  was  insane  until  it  is  proved  that  he  was  not, 
shifling  the  burden  of  proof  from  accuser  to  defendant ; 
but  this  is  far  less  culpable  than  the  uniform  refusal  of 
his  opponents  to  examine  the  only  legitimate  evidence  on 
which  the  question  can  be  fairly  decided. 

It  is  assumed  by  many  that  these  visions  of  Sweden- 
borg were  of  the  same  character  as  the  visions  of  modern 
spiritual  mediums,  having  possibly  a  basis  of  truth,  but 
entirely  untrustworthy.     Swedenborg  recognized  the  pos- 
sibility of  such  unsanctioned  intercourse  with  ignorant  or 
evil   spirits,   and    predicted    the    destruction   of   Christian 
belief  and  moral  restraint  which  almost  universally  results 
therefrom.    Moreover,  what  he  discloses  respecting  the  phe- 
nomena of  the  spiritual  world  will  show  to  every  one  who 
examines   the   matter   candidly  that  the  results  of  such 
intercourse  can  have  no  value  even  as  reports  of  fact.    One 
needs  to  be  providentially  prepared  and  guided  to  understand 
phenomena  so  diff"erent  from  anything  in  this  world.    Con- 
sequently, even  if  we  admit  that  these  modern  visions  are 
all  that  they  claim  to  be,  they  are  no  more  to  be  ranked 
with  Swedenborg's,  than  a  school-boy's  glimpse  of  a  solar 
eclipse  through  a  smoked  glass  is  to  be  ranked  with  the 
observations  of  it  by  a  trained  astronomer  with  his  elaborate 
preparation  and  complicated  instruments.     Finally  let  it  not 
be  forgotten  that  this  feature  of  Swedenborg's  work  was 
merely  incidental.    He  uses  the  facts  he  thus  obtains  simply 
to  illustrate  the  spiritual  principles  which  he  is  expounding. 
The  most  plausible  and  serious  objections  which   have 


^  k,i' 


hVi^ 


32 


WHAT  IS  SWEDENBORGIANISMf 


been  urged  against  Swedenborg's  teachings  can  be  clearly 
Been  to  be  misrepresentations  when  the  matter  is  carefully 
examined.  They  are  based  on  a  few  statements  in  a  small 
treatise  of  a  hundred  pages  entitled  "  Adulterous  Love  and 
its  Insane  Pleasures"  (appended  to  his  work  on  "Conjugial 
Love"),  wherein  Swedenborg  aims  to  show  that  some 
phases  of  sexual  evil  are  less  destructive  of  conjugial  love 
or  of  spiritual  life  in  the  soul  than  others,  and  are  conse- 
quently, in  that  sense,  to  be  preferred  to  others.  The  cur- 
rent misrepresentations  are  made  possible  and  plausible  by 
ignoring  two  facts, — first,  that  Swedenborg  is  discussing  a 
state  of  society  totally  different  from  that  in  which  we  are 
living,  one  in  which  the  social  and  legal  obstacles  to  mar- 
riage made  a  legalized  concubinage  a  seeming  necessity,  and 
in  which  all  the  elements  of  the  problem  (except  the 
abstract  principle  of  right  and  wrong)  were  so  remote  from 
our  present  experience  as  to  be  almost  unintelligible  to  us ; 
and,  secondly,  that  Swedenborg,  writing  in  the  most  licen- 
tious country  of  Europe  at  its  most  corrupt  period,  taught 
the  purest  and  most  exalted  doctrine  of  marriage  the  world 
has  ever  known,  and  that  it  is  only  common  fairness  to 
claim  that  these  few  seemingly  objectionable  statements 
should  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  what  he  uniformly 
teaches  elsewhere.  When  the  intricate  nature  of  this 
question  is  seen  all  fair-minded  persons  will  hold  it  in 
abeyance  until  they  have  had  opportunity  for  a  full  and 
impartial  examination  of  it. 

In  closing,  allow  me  to  say  that  these  brief  statements 
furnish  only  an  imperfect  outline  of  Swedenborg's  system. 
But  I  trust  that  they  will  awaken  a  sufficient  interest,  or, 
at  least,  curiosity,  to  induce  some  of  my  readers  to  inquire 
further. 


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